1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to DKK2, a DKK2-Fc fusion, and a use thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
DKK2, a repressor protein of Wnt protein, has been reported to act as an inhibiting factor or stimulating factor of signaling pathways of Wnt. DKK2 may be divided into two specific cysteine-rich domains and various lengths of connection regions. Particularly, DKK2, which belongs to the Dickkopf family, highly conserves a cystein-2 region between family members as well as 10 cysteines. It has been reported that DKK2 is closely related with the differentiation of osteoclast.
Angiogenesis is a process by which capillary blood vessels are formed. This process plays an important role in embryogenesis, corpus luteum formation, wound healing, and tumor metastasis. It has been reported that the angiogenesis process is regulated by various stimulating factors and inhibiting factors, for example, growth factor, cytokine, and a lipid metabolism substance. Angiogenesis stimulating factors can be divided into several factors, for example, cell growth inducing factor, cytokine having immune activity, hormone and lipid products, etc. However, the stimulating factors have various problems that arise in clinical use since they act not only on vascular endothelial cells but also on other neighboring cells.
The promotion of angiogenesis may be used for therapeutic purposes. An ischemic disease of an individual may be treated by administering an angiogenic factor to the individual to promote angiogenesis. The angiogenesis factor includes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), developmentally regulated endothelial locus-1 (Del-1), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-EGF), angiopoietin, and FGF.
However, the effect of DKK2 or its Fc-fusion on promotion of angiogenesis has been not reported or disclosed.